Scriptures were also published by Ludolf and Bode. In 1755, Professor Bode published Fragmenta Veteris Testamenti ex versione Ethiopici interpretis, &c. 4to, containing fragments of the Old Testament; among which are the Prophecies of JOEL, JONAH, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH, and MALACHI. The PSALMS were also published at Rome, in Coptic, and Arabic, and again in 1749, by the Congregation "de propagandâ fide," for the use of the Egyptian Christians." Dr. Münter published some fragments of the Epistles of St. Paul to TIMOTHY, in the Sahidic dialect, from MSS. in the possession of Cardinal Borgia, Hafniæ, 1789, 4to. F. Aug. Ant. Georgi, in the same year, printed at Rome, a fragment of the GOSPELs of St. JOHN, in the same dialect; and Mingarelli published some Sahidic fragments of the GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW and ST. JOHN, in his Ægyptiorum Codicum Reliquiæ, Bonon. 1785, 4to. Other fragments of an Egyptian dialect, termed the Basmuric, have been published by W. F. Engelbreth, from MSS. in the Borgian Museum, with the title "Fragmenta Basmurico-Coptica, Veteris et Novi Testamenti quæ in Museo Borgiana Velitris asservantur : Havniæ, 1811, 4to. The learned editor supposes this translation to have been made so early as the end of the third, or beginning of the fourth century."

From the AFRICAN versions we turn to the AMERICAN. The principal ones made, or printed, during this century, were the Delaware, the Mahikan, the Massachusett, the Mohegan, the Mohawk, the Creole, the Esquimaux, the Greenlandish, and the Arawack. So early as 1754, FA

The author, in a former volume, relying on the authority of Masch and Marsh, did not mention Habakkuk as having been printed; this error he is happy to be able now to rectify.

(91) Adleri Bibliotheca Biblica, pt. i. p. 142.

Marsh's Hist. of Translations of the Scriptures, p. 94.

(92) Bibliog. Dict. VI. p. 228.

Dr. A. Clarke's Comment. Introd. to Gospels, &c. p. xviii.

Millin. Annales Encyclopædiques. Fevrier, 1818, pp. 350-361.
Paris, 8vo.

BRICIUS, one of the Moravian missionaries, translated a part of the Scriptures into the DELAWARE language; another missionary, SCHMICK, translated a portion of the GOSPELS into the MAHIKAN; but whether these translations be still in existence may be doubted, for in 1781, the books and writings which the missionaries had compiled for the instruction of the Indian youth, are said to have been destroyed by the savages."

In 1709, the PSALMS, and St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, in columns of the Indian MASSACHUSETT dialect and English, were printed at Boston, in New England, translated by EXPERIENCE MAYHEW. This excellent missionary was the descendant of the venerable and apostolic Mr. Thomas Mayhew, who had for many years been engaged in the arduous task of instructing the Indians of Martha's Vineyard. He was born about 1673, and in March 1694, commenced his missionary labours, which he continued for 60 years, with zeal and success. Beside his Indian translation, he published, in 1727, a small volume entitled Indian Converts, containing an account of a considerable number of the natives who had embraced the Gospel, and adorned their profession by their conduct. He died about 1754, aged 81.94

In the year 1700, the earl of Bellemont employed the Rev.Mr. FREEMAN, "a very worthy Calvinist minister, afterwards the pastor of a Dutch congregation at Schenectady, to attempt the conversion of the Indians in the state of New York. With this view he translated into the MOHAWK dialect, the GOSPEL ACCOrding to St. MATTHEW; the first three chapters of GENESIS; several chapters of EXODUS; several PSALMS; many portions of the Scripture relating the Birth, Passion, Resurrection,

(93) Marsh's Hist. of the Translations of the Scriptures, p. 99.

Brown's Hist. of the Propagation of Christianity, II. p. 681. (94) Brown's Hist. of the Propag, of Christianity, I. pp. 57, 58.

Second Report of the Brit, and For. Bible Society, App. p. 118.

and Ascension of our Lord; and several chapters of the 1st Epistle to the CORINTHIANS, particularly the 15th; beside the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the church of England. These translations he presented to the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," who caused the Morning and Evening Prayer, the Litany, the Church Catechism, Family Prayers, and several chapters of the Old and New Testament, to be printed at New York, and sent to their missionary Mr. Andrews, for distribution among the Indians. And in 1787, the GOSPEL ACCORDing to St. MARK, translated by Colonel BRANDT, an Indian chief, was printed with the Prayer Book, in Mohawk and English, in 1787.96

95

The NEW TESTAMENT, with many parts of the OLD TESTAMENT, was translated into the MOHEGAN language, another dialect extensively spoken in North America, by JOHN SERGEANT, sen. missionary at Stockbridge; but does not appear ever to have been printed."

In 1781, the NEW TESTAMENT was printed at Copenhagen, in an octavo form, in the CREOLE language, by order of the king of Denmark, for the use of the negroes in the Danish West India islands. A school-book, containing the TEN COMMANDMENTS, and the LORD'S PRAYER was also published by the same authority, but without date.98

Into the ESQUIMAUX language, spoken on the coast of Labrador, the Moravian brethren or Unitas Fratrum have translated and printed the HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. From this "Harmony," the missionary Kohlmeister extracted the GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN which was

(95) Humphreys' Historical Account of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, pp. 287. 302, 303. Lond. 1730, 8vo.

(96) First Report of Brit. and For. Bible Society, pp. 16, 17. 56. (97) Brown's Hist. of the Propagation of Christianity, II. p. 630. (98) Adleri Biblioth. Biblica, pt. iv. Plut. 39, p. 116.

printed by the "British and Foreign Bible Society," in 1810.99

In 1721, HANS or JOHN EGEDE, a Danish clergyman, accompanied by his family, sailed for GREENLAND, and became, in the hands of Divine Providence, the chief instrument in the conversion of the inhabitants of that dreary region. With incredible labour he composed a short Grammar, a Catechism, and a Book of Prayers, in the language of that country; and also translated into it the PSALMS, and the EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL, which have since been printed at Copenhagen.' He returned to Denmark in 1736, and died in 1758, aged 73. About the year

1740, the Moravian missionaries who had subsequently settled in the same inhospitable country, translated the Esquimaux Harmony of the Gospels into the Greenlandish dialect, which has also been printed. Other portions of the Divine Volume have been translated into the language of Greenland, by the Moravian missionaries, but remain in MS." In 1744, a part of the Scriptures was printed at Copenhagen, in 8vo. in the Greenland language, translated by PAUL EGEDE, eldest son of Hans Egede, and author of a Greenlandish dictionary. It is dedicated to the king of Denmark. This was followed by the FOUR GOSPELS, and ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, CO- penhagen, 1758, 8vo.; and the NEW TESTAMENT, Copenhagen, 1766, 8vo. The translator died in 1789. After the death of Paul Egede, a translation of the NEW TESTAMENT was made by Mr. FABRICIUS, another Danish missionary, who had also resided in Greenland, but who

(99) Owen's Hist. of the Brit. and For. Bible Society, I. p. 460; and II. p. 288.

Sixth Report of the Brit. and For. Bib. Soc. P. 12.

(1) Fabricii Lux Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. xxxv. p. 620. (2) Brown's Hist. of the Propagation of Christianity, I. p. 367; and II. App. p. 639.

(3) Adleri Biblioth. Biblica, pt. iv. Plut. 38, p. 115.

(4) Brown's Hist. of the Propagation of Christianity, I. p. 320.

Second Report of the Brit. and For. Bible Society, App. p. 188.

had left the country a great many years. His translation was printed at Copenhagen, in 1799,*

The extraordinary zeal and perseverance of the venerable Hans Egede, and of his son Paul Egede, in their missionary labours, are fully detailed in Crantz's History of Greenland; Brown's History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen; and the Missionary Register for 1821.

In South America, the Moravian missionaries endeavoured to communicate the knowledge of the Scriptures to the Indians, both by frequent instruction, and by translating into the native dialects, certain parts of the Sacred Volume: at Hope, on the river Corentyn, they compiled a HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS in the language of the ARAWACKS; and at Ramley they orovided a similar HARMONY in the SARAMECAN dialect, for the Free (or Runaway) Negroes who had formed a settlement there; and who after many predatory attacks upon the European settlements, had made peace with the government of Surinam.5

The Critical Editions of the Original Texts, also, which were published during this century, were numerous and important; and the names of HOUBIGANT, Kennicott and DE ROSSI, with those of MILL, BENGEL, WETSTEIN, GRIESBACH, and other Biblical critics who have engaged in extensive and successful collations of the Holy Scriptures, will ensure the grateful acknowledgments of all who are capable of justly appreciating the value of their labours, and the important services they have rendered to the cause of Revealed truth; not only by essentially promoting the interests of Sacred Literature, but also by establishing indisputably the general integrity of the original Texts. For although an immense number of Hebrew and Greek MSS. transcribed by different

(5) Brown's Hist. of the Propagation of Christianity, I. pp. 596. 617; and II. App. pp. 634, 647,